The Lost Avatar
by PaulGeorge
Summary: What if two water tribe kids never discovered Aang in an iceberg. This is an alternate timeline story. The Fire Nation, now called the Phoenix Empire, won the 100 Year War. Can balance be restored?


Prologue

The South Pole. Decades ago it was home to the Southern Water Tribe who fled there homeland and sought refuge in to swamps of the Earth Kingdom. Now it was mostly a wasteland, with only one prison for earthbenders who have defied the Phoenix King's rule.

Jìmò was working for the research division of the the Phoenix Empire. Months ago, he was looking through research on volcanic activity in the South Pole when he noticed an anomaly. It was a faint heat signature on a reading. Thinking it was a raft (herd) of otter penguins or a some other animal, he ignored it at first. However, as Jìmò looked over records of the satellite's surveillance throughout the past few decades, the heat signature was still there. After showing his supervisor he was told to ignore it, it could have been a strong area of magnetism or solar radiation that caused the 'glitch'. the years. Jìmò wasn't convinced.

That was weeks ago. His journey had finally led him to the coordinates of his supposed 'glitch'. He hopped off of his snowmobile and saw white desolation all around him. He walked around hoping to find something when a reflection of light caught his eye. In a split second anger riled up inside of him that all of this was caused from an overly reflective piece of ice, but then in a second that emotion was replaced with a sense of confusion. It appeared to be a boy was in this iceberg. A boy on top of a... a sky bison? Those have been extinct for centuries. From what Jìmò could tell, the boy appeared to have strange markings on his face. Could he be... an airbender? Feelings of relief and joy dawned on him for he had made the archeological discovery of the century. Yet he was still perplexed. From what he could tell, there was nothing that would radiate heat. This boy and his animal were long dead. There bodies should be as cold as the ice they're encased in...

Six Weeks Later...

"Begin Defrosting."

As ordered, a team of robots at a Fire Nation Lab in Omashu carefully began radiating heat onto the ice that imprisoned the mysterious boy and his bison. A wild hypothesis was that this boy could be the lost avatar of centuries past and was kept alive by his spirit energy. The scientists were not so optimistic. As the they got closer in closer to the boy they began to relax how much heat they were using.

Suddenly the the few inches of ice left began to crack... And then... glow violently. The room was illuminated by a blue light. The boy broke free of the ice, and then collapsed onto the tile floor.

Two scientists rushed over to grab the boy and place the bison in restraints... The lead scientist, Renshu, knew he was the lost Avatar. "i-impossible..." he stuttered. Renshu wanted a little harder evidence to make sure of his discovery before he contacted the Phoenix King with something as outlandish as finding the lost avatar.

Aang's eyes began to open. "Who are you?" a voice asked over the speaker. Aang looked up and around, still slightly confused at his surroundings. He was in a gray-colored room with a bright light shining down on him.

"Where am I?" Aang asked. He tried to get up, but quickly realized he was tightly bound by leather straps. "W-what's, going on!" he shouted. After struggling for a couple minutes the loud speaker came back on.

"Remain calm. Cooperate and everything will be fine." Aang looked over to see Appa still asleep, but strapped down to the floor with thick leather straps. He took a deep breath.

"Alright. Just don't hurt Appa," he replied. "I am an airbender. I got stuck in a storm last night." He observed the room. The walls were what appeared to be metal. Sleek and shiny silver metal. Other than himself and Appa, there appeared to be nobody else in the room and he didn't see an exit. He wasn't sure where the voice was coming from either. Aang tried to remain calm. Was he in some kind of underground hideout for a cult? Why was everything so mysterious, and why was that dang light so bright, he thought as he squinted.

Renshu quickly sent brought up a video feed with the Phoenix King. A minute later the Phoenix King appeared. "Forgive me your majesty, but I believe we found the... the lost Avatar" he blurted out, not trying to sound foolish. "Weeks ago, a scientist at our lab discovered a child in the South Pole after viewing an anomaly in our infrared mappings of volcanic activity in the area. It was a small heat source, to small to come from the Earth that spanned decades in the same place. When it was investigated, this child and his bison was discovered. We believe his Avatar spirit energy has kept him alive for so long. He has revealed himself to be an airbender and...

The Phoenix King raised his had to cut him off and thought for a moment. He recalled the legend that an Avatar, an airbender mysteriously vanished over 200 years ago. "The lost Avatar... is he still awake?"

"Yes sire, very much so. He is conscious."

"Restrain him, evoke the avatar state by putting his life in danger and kill him as soon as he enters it. Do not let him escape and do not underestimate his power. Inform me when the job is finished."

The video feed cut off. Renshu gulped. He must not mess this up or his head is on the line. How should I invoke the Avatar state?" Renshu thought out aloud. He asked one of his assistants to get ready to apply a strong electric shock to the Avatar.

Meanwhile, Aang began getting impatient. "Uh, hello? Any chance you guys could unstrap me and let me go. I'm sure the monks are worried sick." Just then, he felt the the nylon straps tighten over his torso, arms, and legs. He panicked. "What's going on? I don't want an- Ahhhhh!" he screamed as he felt sudden pain althroughout his limbs. Directly in front of him, he noticed something being lower from the ceiling, though he couldn't make out any details while in excruciating pain.

"Reeuurrrgghhhh!" Appa roared. Aang quickly looked over to see his beloved companion being tortured as well.

"Stop, it! Stop hurting Appa!" Aang screamed. Aang began to lose consciousness. Just then, his eyes started to glow.

"Now, fire now!" Renshu commanded.

With his increased power, Aang ripped away his restraints with airbending and fired a blast of air directly at the object hanging from the ceiling.

The object that had been lowered from the ceiling, a laser gun, fired a blast directly at the Avatar. It was too late. Aang's gust of air altered the direction of the laser gun and blasted a hole through the wall. Aang ripped the restraints off of Appa and jumped up on to his back.

"Yip yip," the voice of a thousand Avatars commanded. Appa flew from the building, a building taller than Aang had ever seen before. Appa rose high out of the reach of the several sky scrapers within the city and soared elevated above the clouds in the night sky. Appa flew towards a mountain range in the distance seeking cover as Aang hobbled over and slipped out of consciousness...

With fear evident in his appearance, Renshu reappeared on a screen at the Phoenix King's palace. "I take it you have failed me."

"I am sorry your majesty."

"So am I," his highness replied as the video screen cut off and guards surrounded Renshu. A moment later and his charred corpse hit the ground.


End file.
